Application of ultrasound in combination with heat and pressure for the inactivation of spore forming bacteria isolated from edible crab (Cancer pagurus)

This research was performed to characterize the resistance of three different bacterial spore species isolated from pasteurized edible crab (Cancer pagurus) meat to heat treatments and to assess the potential of manosonication (MS) and manothermosonication (MTS) as an alternative for their inactivation. The spore-forming bacteria used in this study were Bacillus mycoides, Bacillus weihenstephanensis and Psychrobacillus psychrodurans. The thermal resistance of these three species was determined at different temperatures ranging from 80 to 110 degrees C and their resistance to ultrasound under pressure from 35 to 95 degrees C. Ginafit Excel tool was used to fit the Geeraerd's 'Log-linear + shoulder' and Bigelow & Easty's equations to the survival curves for heat and MS/MTS treatments. From the results obtained it can be concluded that the profile of the survival curves either for heat or for ultrasound treatments depended on the bacterial spore species. When shoulders were detected in the inactivation curves for heat they were also present in the curves for MS/MTS treatments, although the application of an ultrasonic field reduced the shoulder length. B. weihenstephanensis was found to be the most resistant species to heat, requiring 1.4 min to reduce 4 log(10) cycles at 107.5 degrees C (z(T) = 7.1 degrees C) while B. mycoides was the most sensitive requiring 1.6 min at 95 degrees C (z(T) = 9.1 degrees C). By contrast, B. mycoides was the most resistant to MS. The efficiency of the combination of ultrasonic waves under pressure with heat (MTS) for bacterial spore inactivation was directly correlated with the thermal resistance. Indeed, MTS showed a synergistic effect for the inactivation of the three spores. The highest percentage of synergism corresponded to the spore species with higher z(T) value (B. mycoides), but the highest temperature at which this synergism was detected corresponded to the most heat tolerant spore species (B. weihenstephanensis). This study revealed that MTS treatment is capable of inactivating spore-forming bacteria and that the inactivation efficiency of the combined treatment is correlated with the thermal resistance of the spore species. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.